☀️ Scoop: PAR 'Sonic' Franchise's Streaming Value
DISNEY trims more staff / HBO gets ‘Succession’ creator pic / TKO makes boxing official
Mornin! This is Sean McNulty (connect with me on LINKEDIN here if ya like or email me at seanmcnultynyc@gmail.com), and here’s the Hollywood + Media news to know on WEDNESDAY, March 5, 2025.
Where we have exhibit 87 that growing up Gen X > growing up Gen Z.
According to a new NYT read looking at how Gen Z affords going to concerts in the growing extreme gouging “superfan” era of the music business (or frankly, doesn’t afford) — the average concert ticket price according to Pollstar, adjusted for inflation:
1996: $52
2024: $136
THEN: A happy Ash Wednesday to those beginning the Lent season today.
AND: More job cuts at DISNEY according to Status, this time around 200 folks across ABC NEWS (seems like a lot of consolidating of teams) and the cable TV networks (once again trimming things like scheduling, program planning, etc.) per the details at WSJ.
That’s about a 6% headcount cut across the 2 units.
If it makes ya feel any better — GOLDMAN is doing its annual cutting of the “low performers” (about 3% to 5% of staff — many in the VP suite) in the spring instead of the fall this year to, uh, optimize the company’s performance.
ALSO: BYTEDANCE’s latest employee stock buyback program is now valuing the company at $312B (this includes the China business as well, of course). As a comp — NETFLIX’s current market cap is $416B.
Although that $312B is up from, uh, $181B just 6 months ago — and yeah, ya got me on that one.
It has fluctuated over time though — about a year ago it was $300B and in 2023 it was $268B.
Also note that the buyback offer is being made to U.S. employees.
OH: The new AI insights “tool” (good word choice) that the L.A. Times is putting on its pieces is going great. Within the first 24 hours, it had the insight that the KKK wasn’t all about the, ya know, racism, but also was just a reaction to changing societal times among Protestants. The future’s looking bright, everyone.
AH: Gambling — you’ve had your fun on YT, now the good times are over. GOOGLE is putting in new restrictions on creators, prohibiting them from talking about, or including signage for any gambling platforms not approved by GOOGLE.
It may also flag creator content “promising guaranteed returns,” but clearly GOOGLE has never gotten a tip from my guy Teddy for YONKERS RACEWAY in the 5th today. Uh oh, I’ve said too much. 😳
BTW: GOOGLE is inquiring with the Trump Justice Department if we can, ya know, forget about the whole “break up the company” process going on 😉 after it lost the big court case last year, per Bloomberg.
BACK TO GAMBLING: FANDUEL parent company FLUTTER had $14B of revenue in 2024 and . . . $162M in Net Income (the company also has several betting operations globally). Quite a return on that bet.
PLUS: MCDONALD’S is pushing forward with more AI use at locations, including the totally confidence-instilling ability to predict when the McFlurry machine is likely to break down. Although how it’ll know when Tim chooses to pull one of his pranks again 🙄 was not disclosed.
This after MICKEY-D’s attempts at using AI at the drive-thru window were shut down in June due to instances of ordering 260 McNuggets for customers and asking to add bacon to an ice cream order — although I’m 95% sure that was due to faulty AI learning based on previous orders made by an R. Rushfield rewards account just f’ing with the bots.
ALSO: The Oscars apparently got a large 1.6M bump from the kids streaming the show on HULU on phones and computers (or at least until it stopped streaming), boosting the entire total up to 19.7M, now a smidge above last year’s 19.5M.
No word on what the ABC-only audience was . . . so we’ll give the prize to the 67% of you.
AND: The just don’t make cars like they used to . . . in that they are now basically computers you can drive, and well, that’s going great for your insurance premiums.
I still say a “dumb car” is an untapped market for U.S. auto — but every car dealership person just looks at me with a blank stare every time I’ve mentioned that to them.
FINALLY: Quite a Top 8 list here. Hope you all enjoyed your evening, and nothing like having “a little disturbance” on the horizon — which I’m sure we all agree is exactly how the American public described the 2022-23 U.S. economy too.
CLARIFICATION: My apologies to LGF’s Ballerina — its ad during the Oscars was a 30-second spot, not a :15. My shock at seeing a movie advertised during a movie award show threw off my internal clock.
REST IN PEACE: Goes out to two notable folks today, alas.
Carl Dean, aka Dolly Parton’s husband of 60 years, who passed away on Monday at 82.
Peter Engel, a name near and dear to Gen X (and I’m told subsequent generations), aka the EP and a driving force behind SBTB (Saved By The Bell for those unfortunate few not to have this show as part of your childhood), who died at the age of 88 yesterday.
IN THIS EDITION:
Take a look at some new PARAMOUNT data around the Sonic franchise that adds some important details to the post-theatrical life for movie IP.
Zaz shared some key insights as to things to come for HBO content distribution and unscripted streaming volume yesterday that really say a lot.
Break down the scale of audiences at FOX NEWS these days on linear TV, and what the FOX NATION business means from a 💰 POV.
TKO enters boxing, NETFLIX gets in the Rachel Weisz business, CBS lowers its Dick Wolf business.
It’s also weekend sports ratings day and NETFLIX saw a huge week from both its SONY deal and it’s int’l film business, not to mention Ms. Rachel is still hanging strong in TV . . . so yeah, for a day where I’m on a beach, this is a busy day.
🎥 THE SILVER SCREEN
